Abrams to Produce Wunderkind

JJ Abrams seems to enjoy being an Executive Producer as he has signed on for a third film with Paramount. The film is called Wunderkind written by Patrick Aison. It is set in the 1970s as it follows a CIA and Mossad Nazi hunters who are forced to work together. In the last few weeks Abrams has signed on for God Particle and an untitled spec script. Abrams is currently working on completing the Star Trek sequel but this is unlikely to interfere with that.

Keep in mind that the Executive Producer is kind of like the CEO of a film. His job isn't the day to day decisions. Those are delegated to those with "Producer" credits that are not stars on the films. His main role is to interface with the studio, bring legitimacy to a product (think "from Steven Spielberg..." type lines you see in movie ads), approve the director (and sometimes the cast) while providing comments and ideas on the script with the occasional set visit when production starts. It’s a low time commitment but high paying role as often the executive producer gets a piece of the profits. Really if your goal is to make as much money as possible, this is what you eventually want to devote most of your time to (again see Steven Spielberg) as get credit for making films while not involved in all the time consuming minutiae that is involved in getting a film made.

Abrams Producing God Particle

Variety is reporting that JJ Abrams is set to produce God Particle written by Oren Uziel (The Kitchen Sink). The story is a stuck in space story when a crew must figure out how to survive after an experiment with the hadron accelerator causes the Earth to vanish. A European spacecraft is spotted but the crew doesn't know if they are friend or foe. Paramount wants to film the picture for around $5 million under their Insurge Pictures division they just created for "micro-budget" movies. Basically Paramount is hoping for the profit margins of Paranormal Activity. Abrams will not direct (to expensive). Frankly this sounds like one of those boring atmosphere movies that have killed horror for these last few years. The term is mine as it means the movie has so little meat on the bone that they spin their wheels for most of the movie trying to build suspense with fake-outs that by the time you get to the pay-off you are too bored to care. Hopefully Abrams will bring a higher quality to the story.

JJ Abrams to Produce Spec Script

The Star Trek sequel may be in post-production but that isn't stopping JJ Abrams from signing on to produce another movie. According to Variety the untitled project "described as a contained thriller with sci-fi elements, though story details remain under wraps." The script is from Josh Campbell (remake of The Killer) and Matt Stuecken (associate producer on GI Joe Retaliation). The movie will be made through Abram's Bad Robot production company for Paramount. Abrams will likely just have executive producer credit but if the itch strikes he could direct it as likely will wrap up most of his post-production work on Star Trek 12 by the end of the summer or early Fall. (via TrekMovie)

Abrams' Revolution Trailer

Sunday NBC announced its planned schedule for the 2012-2013 season when it starts next Fall. While it will likely be adjusted over the summer, right now JJ Abrams' Revolution is set for Monday at 10pm EST. The series is a post-apocalyptic story set 15 years after some mysterious electromagnetic pulse eliminates all electricity on the planet, essentially forcing modern humanity to live as if still the 19th century. Below is the official trailer for the film and NBC's description of the series. If the series can live up to the promise of the trailer, it could be the hit of the season. As long as they don't get stuck on humanity and individual character angst that tends towards the annoying rather than interesting. NBC's full schedule is here, trailers for the new shows here.

Nimoy Explains Fringe Return

Even though Leonard Nimoy has technically retired from acting, it doesn't mean he still doesn't get the itch. Nice thing about retiring is get to do what you want, when you want. Nimoy returned to reprise the role of William Bell that he has been playing off and on over the course of Fringe but never with as much screen time as he as been getting over the last three episodes. Before it was a brief scene or a line here and there. As season four draws to a close with the finale tomorrow, he has more to say about the role and why he returned as io9 reports. Even better, he is willing to return for the final season.

He was excited to play a villain
Originally, said Nimoy, "the character of William Bell was supposed to be ambivalent," with a lot of mystery about whether he was a good guy or a bad guy. "We couldn't quite figure out what his motivation was." But after it was settled that Bell was basically a nice person, "the mystery of William Bell was explained," and it seemed like there was noplace to go with the character. But when he heard they were going to turn Bell into a baddie, it sounds like his excitement returned, because "I could play aspects of a character that I haven't played in a long time."